I. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to closures, and more particularly to a bottle cap having a chamber with one end in fluid communication with the interior bottle and valve means for closing and opening one end of the chamber.
II. Description of the Prior Art
In the process of making wine, remnants of fruit and other food products remain intermixed with the wine product and must be removed by distillation, decanting or some other process. The removal of the solik is especially difficult with effervescent wines commonly referred to generally as champagnes. In one previously known effervescent wine making process, the charmat process, pressurized transfer equipment and pressurized fermentation tanks are used. Such equipment is very expensive and only economical to use if large commercial quantities of wine are to be produced.
Another previously known method for purifying an effervescent wine is known as methode champenoise. In such a process, temporary caps are installed on a specially constructed bottle of the unpurifyed wine. The bottles include an elongated, frangible neck portion, so that the bottles can be inverted to permit sediment to settle in the neck of the bottle. Once the sediment has settled, the neck is frozen and the frangible portion is removed from the remainder of the bottle so that the sediment can be discarded and only purifyed wine remains in the bottle. Such an operation is labor intensive and requires a substantial amount of apparatus for the installation of the temporary cap, freezing and discarding of the neck collected substance, and recapping of the bottles.
Another known process for removing the sediment from bottled wine is to decant the wine. Decanting is accomplished by allowing the sediment to settle in the bottle, and then pouring a substantial portion of the contents of the bottle into another container. A certain portion of the wine is retained in the bottle together with the sediment so as not to force the sediment to flow into the container. In such a process, care must be taken to avoid the stirring of the particles of sediment so that they do not flow off with the decanted portion of the wine. In addition, a substantial portion of the wine may remain with the sediment in order to avoid forcing particles of sediment into the decanted liquid.
In addition, other types of wines can be clarified by the distillation process, in which the wine is first vaporized by heating so that impurities are removed from the vaporized liquid and then cooled so that the vapor condenses to a purified liquid. Such a method requires a substantial amount of apparatus through which the wine must be processed before it can be bottled. Moreover, such a process is very time consuming and substantially increases the cost of producing the wine.